1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retrieving system and a retrieving method, and particularly relates to a system and a method for retrieving data stored in devices (e.g., multifunction peripherals) connected by a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in addition to a copying function capable of being performed by a digital copying machine, digital multifunction peripherals capable of performing a number of other functions have become increasingly popular due to their practical uses. A digital multifunction peripheral may include, as the additional functions, for example, a facsimile communication function which utilizes a scanner and a printer that are primarily provided in the digital copying machine. Further, by using a printer function, a code data sent from a computer can be rasterized into a bitmap data to output a print product. Alternatively, by using a scanner function, an image data read by the scanner can be sent to a network. Further, by using a printer function, the image data sent from the network can be printed out.
As one of the functions added to such a digital multifunction peripheral, a personal box function is known. According to the personal box function, a region is allocated to each individual user or department inside a storage unit of the digital multifunction peripheral. Print image data and scan image data input from the scanner are stored in the region, and can be output as necessary.
Further, circumstances exist in which it is desirable to enable the image data stored in the storage unit by the personal box function to be viewed on the network, and the image data stored in the storage unit of each digital multifunction peripheral to be shared and jointly used. According to a method, by inputting instructions via an operation screen of a certain digital multifunction peripheral, the data stored in other digital multifunction peripherals existing on the network can be retrieved, and desired data can be viewed and printed out in the digital multifunction peripheral operated by the user.
Conventionally, as a retrieving method, an attribute retrieval using attributes (file name, index, etc.) associated with the stored data, and a text retrieval based on text information extracted from the stored data have been known. Further, a similar image retrieval is known (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-318812) in which an image data acquired by reading an original by the scanner, or an image data acquired by dividing the image data into a plurality of regions is taken as a retrieval key, and a file including a similar image is retrieved using the retrieval key.
However, in a network system in which a plurality of digital multifunction peripherals are connected, when a document existing on a digital multifunction peripheral is retrieved from another digital multifunction peripheral, all digital multifunction peripherals on the network may become the retrieval targets. Consequently, when the retrieval is performed in such a network system, it may be necessary to make an inquiry to all digital multifunction peripherals and receive responses from them. Accordingly, the retrieval process may also be executed in a digital multifunction peripheral in which a retrieval target possibly does not exist, and therefore, a retrieval processing time increases, and the loads of unrelated digital multifunction peripherals and/or the load of the network traffic are increased.